Best Soups for All Seasons

Notice that most of the ingredients in Minestrone are winter vegetables.

* 1 large brown onion, diced
* 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped or crushed
* Olive oil
* 1 stick celery, diced
* 2 small potatoes, peeled and diced
* 1 carrot, diced
* 1 black zucchini, diced
* 1 - 14oz can tomatoes
* 1 - 14oz can beans (borlotti or cannelini etc), drained and rinsed
* 3 cups beef stock
* 1/3 cup small pasta (twists, macaroni, risoni etc)
* 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
* Handful fresh basil leaves, chopped

Minestrone Soup Recipe Method

Heat olive oil in a stockpot or large deep saucepan and saute onion, garlic and bacon until lightly golden. Add celery, potato, carrot, zucchini, tomatoes, beans and beef stock and stir thoroughly. Bring to the boil & simmer approximately 30 minutes until the vegetables are tender. If you have an old end piece of parmesan, you could add this while simmering to enhance the flavour. Add the pasta and cook for a further 5 minutes or so until the pasta is al dente. Sprinkle with Parmesan and basil and serve with crusty bread.

If you are a Rachel Ray fan like I am, you know this is going to be a tasty and easy to prepare Fall soup. Have you ever served soup in a carved out pumpkin?

Take a few minutes to check this one out here

Be sure to come back for some soup cooking hints.

Try this light and delicious Chicken and Asparagus Soup for Great Taste.

Ingredients

* 1 3 1/2-pound chicken, cut into pieces
* 3 medium carrots, halved crosswise
* 2 ribs celery, halved crosswise
* 1 medium yellow onion, quartered
* 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
* 4 ounces green beans, cut into small pieces
* 8 ounces asparagus, cut into 1-inch pieces
* 1 beefsteak tomato, diced
* 1 turnip, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (optional)
* 1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
Wait till you smell this as it simmers on the stove. It will be hard to wait to eat it.

1. Put the the chicken in a large soup pot with the carrots, celery, onion, and salt. Cover with cold water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 45 minutes, skim off any foam. You may need to add water so the chicken stays covered.
2. When tender and juices run clear, put the chicken on a plate to cool.. You can discard the carrots, celery, and onion.
3. Add the green beans, asparagus, tomato, and turnip to the broth and simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes.
4. While it's simmering, shred the chicken, which you have already gotten rid of the skin and bones and add chicken to the soup pot, sprinkle with pepper and serve in festive bowls.

This soup mix makes a great sauce, and is an excellent cooking soup for casseroles. Mix it up and store it in a tightly covered bowl.

You can add broccoli, potatoes, cheese, etc., and make whatever creamed soup you want. It's cheaper than canned soup and lower in fat and sodium

Print this and keep it in the bowl with the mix. When it runs low, make more.

Ingredients:

2 cups non-fat dry milk

¾ cup cornstarch

¼ cup bouillon particles

2 Tab. Onion soup mix

½ tsp. Pepper

To make soup:

Mix 1 ¼ Cups cold water with 1/3 cup soup

mix in a small sauce pan. Add 1 Tab. Margarine

and heat over low - medium, stirring constantly.

1 large hen
½ pound of lean smoked ham or pork loin (if not smoked, then add 2 dashes of liquid smoke-CAREFULLY!)
1 Large Onion chopped
2 16 oz cans diced tomatoes
4 medium potatoes diced
4 cups diced carrots
4 cups cut corn
3 14 oz cans of "plain" baked beans (i.e. showboat, not flavored like Bushes)
1 tsp pepper
3 tsp salt
1 T sugar
1 pod of red pepper
3 bay leaves
½ C white vinegar
1 T Worcestershire sauce

Boil chicken and pork loin. Remove from pot and set aside to cool. Put all other ingredients in pot to boil. Debone chicken and shred all chicken and pork. Place in pot to simmer for hours, stirring constantly. This mixture is hours long to process, but so worth it. Taste constantly and adjust spices and vinegar/Worcestershire to taste, but don't overdo it. As it simmers, the flavoring will get stronger. Continue to simmer and stir until consistency of thin oatmeal and most of the liquid is absorbed. STIR!!! This scorches easily so keep an eye on it.

Tomato and Fresh Basil Soup

This is a super simple soup that can be put together in only 5 minutes. How easy is that?

You can serve it chilled but I like it best at room temp.

* 2 lb of fresh tomatoes Home grown or farmer's market are best. You want them FRESH.
* ¼ of a small onion
* 4 Tbls fresh basil
* 3 Tbls extra virgin olive oil
* 2-3 Tbls red wine or balsamic vinegar
* Sat and fresh cracked black pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Drop tomatoes and onion into a blender.and puree until smooth. You can strain for the bits of skin.
2. Add the olive oil and 2 Tbls of the vinegar, and add salt and pepper to taste. Right now you have to taste to see if the seasoning is the right balance. If not, add a bit of each, one at a time until the flavor is to your liking.
3. Chill, for an hour or more, if that's how you want to serve it.
4. Serve in bowls, I find it looks fantastic in pure white bowls. Top with finely chopped basil and serve.

I like to serve it with crusty bread, usually toasted garlic bread, This just might become your all time favorite simple, summer soup.

My friend, Bob Richmond made Chinese winter melon soup with Benincasa hispida, and other stuff from his favorite Chinese grocery store.

Winter melons when mature (young ones are called fuzzy melons, he...nce hispida) are huge, and you buy 1 to 3 pound pieces of them at the Chinese grocery store. Watermelon rind works well as a substitute. Peeling the melon is quite a chore. Cu...t the peeled melon into bite size pieces.

Hydrate about a cup of dried shiitake mushrooms in hot water. This takes about 30 minutes. Slice the mushrooms.

Boil a pound of winter melon in a quart and a half of stock (I use chicken stock) for 20 minutes. Then add a bamboo shoot cut into similar sized pieces, the shiitake mushrooms, and 2 to 4 oz of julienned country ham. Boil 5 more minutes.

Grind in some black pepper. Taste. Salt cautiously if the stock isn't already oversalted. If it's already salted, add a small amount (an eighth of a teaspoonful) of MSG. Otherwise add soy sauce and Chinese cooking wine to taste. Do not add too much salt.

Takes about half an hour to do. Serve in soup bowls, with chopped scallions. Serves two as a main dish.

Click on book to see details of The Everything Chinese Cookbook:on Amazon